Where to start writing about the new Electric Soft Parade album – how about last week, when I was at the Rosehill for Melting Vinyl’s unofficial Great Escape Fire Records showcase gig, with a friend who’s also friends with the White brothers? We were just catching up when Thomas bounds over, all smiles and warmth. He says hi to both of us, and before we know it, he’s off catching up with someone else he knows through being based in the local music scene for over twenty years. After he moved on, my mate relays that Alex has told him that there’s loads of unreleased Electric Soft Parade material, but that there were no plans to release it. It seems a week is a long time not just in politics, but in the world of Electric Soft Parade, because today, out of nowhere, Avenue Dot has just been released. Looking at the credits, on paper this album looks likes Alex’s baby, having written and played most of it, but the magic of ESP comes when they come together – Alex’s songwriting combined the deft touch of Tom’s drums and synths layered over the top and subtle sprinkles of stardust in the production. As you’d expect from an ESP album in this day and age, it doesn’t rest on it’s laurels – it opens (and closes) with jazz saxophones, The Hundred Years War is unashamed country and Momentary Bliss is dreamy psych. It’s good to have the brothers back.